Lorie and Bevans Branham in the Restaurant Industry

As a chain restaurant expands to different cultures, it will have to adapt to the local tastes. In India, where most hindus avoid eating beef, McDonald’s made a Big Mac using chicken meat, renaming it the “Chicken Maharaja Mac.” It was successful. Meanwhile, in Mexico, where Mexicans are surrounded by traditional dishes, Taco Bell has never successfully opened a location. They couldn’t adapt to and stand out from the local foods. The lesson is: chain restaurants have to change some of their formula from time to time if they want a global reach.

Let’s look at Japan, a country that highly values novelty and aesthetics with their food. Here are a few ways chain restaurants have adapted to Japan’s local flavor:

1) Their McDonald’s cheeseburger is a Cheese Katsu Burger. It’s a hamburger bun with a deep-fried pork cutlet stuffed with cheese, a layer of cabbage and some curry sauce.

2) Their KFC chicken is still the same chicken, but its often dusted with yuzu schichimi.

3) Starbucks, which rarely changes its menu, offers a Frappuccino with squares of coffee jelly (a local favorite).

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Message from Bevans & Lorie

Bevans Branham and his wife Lorie love taking people to the “party of life.” Freeing people up, culinarily, to explore new tastes, temperatures, textures and flavors is a great joy. It is cause for much gratitude and celebration, together and with others.